Appliance Installation and Special Occupancies
Appliance and special-occupancy questions combine Chapter 41 appliance rules with Chapter 42 swimming-pool requirements. The exam expects you to separate bonding from grounding and to apply GFCI protection even when an appliance is hardwired or operates at 240 volts.
Core rules
- Appliances must be listed and installed per manufacturer instructions. Fixed appliances need accessible disconnecting means where required.
- Ranges and clothes dryers have specific branch-circuit and grounding rules; do not treat a 3-wire cord-and-plug connection as equivalent to a 4-wire connection where the latter is required.
- Swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs require equipotential bonding of metal parts, pool water, pumps, ladders, and other listed components. Bonding is not the same as equipment grounding.
- Receptacles near pools must be located at least 6 feet from the inside wall of the pool and must be GFCI protected where within the required distance.
- Pool pump motors require GFCI protection. The requirement is not limited to 120-volt or cord-and-plug pumps.
Worked example
A 240-volt pool pump motor is hardwired through a timer. Does it need GFCI protection? Yes. The motor is a pool pump motor, so GFCI protection is required even though it is 240 volts and not cord-and-plug connected. Separate equipotential bonding of the pump, pool water, and metal parts is still required. GFCI and bonding solve different hazards.
Traps
- Treating bonding as a substitute for grounding.
- Omitting pool water bonding.
- Placing a receptacle within 6 feet of the pool wall.
- Assuming a 240-volt hardwired pump is exempt from GFCI.